Brake rigging for railway cars



1935. w. WINE M2433 BRAKE RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS v Filed Feb 26, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet l 0 3mm lrfi/la f. 14616,

17, 1935. w, EWHNE I BRAKE RIGGING FOR RAILWAY CARS 3 Sheets-Sheei; 2

Filed Feb. 26, 1935 @312. i7, 1935. 'w wmg 2,@24,788

BRAKE RIGGING FORRAILWAY CARS Filed Feb. 26, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 raw Patented Dec. 17, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 17 Claims.

My invention relates to the brake rigging of railway cars and it has for its principal object the provision of means for varying the magnitude of the braking force transmitted from the brake cylinder to the brake shoes.

Recent improvements in the design of railroad freight cars and the employment of so-called light weight materials in the construction thereof have resulted in such an increase in the difference between the empty and loaded weights of the cars that the maximum force which may be safely used to brake .an empty car without danger of locking the wheels thereof is insuflicient to brake a loaded car. To overcome this difliculty, I have devised simple, efiicient and reliable means whereby the brake rigging may be easily and quickly adjusted to vary the magnitude of the braking force, depending upon whether the car is loaded or empty.

The primary feature of the invention consists in providing the brake rigging with a lever having a plurality of movably connected sections which are capable of moving together as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting .a braking force of one magnitude or which are capable of relative movement to produce a braking force of a diiferent magnitude.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing the brake rigging with a cylinder lever having a plurality of pivotally connected sections, one of which is fulcrumed on the car and the other of which is operatively connected to the piston of the brake cylinder and to a brake rod, movable means being cooperable with the section of the lever fulcrumed on the car to restrain movement thereof.

Other and more specific features of the invention residing in advantageous forms, combinations and relations of parts will hereinafter appear and be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a railway hopper car showing the invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is an end view of the car.

Figure 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the portion of the brake rigging embodying the invention.

Figure 4 is an end view of the construction illustrated in Figure 3, as seen from the right hand side of that figure.

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a substantially horizontal sectional view taken on a line corresponding to line 6--6 of Figure 5.

Figure '7 is a side elevational view, illustrating one of the end supporting brackets of the operating shaft and adjacent parts.

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a disassembled view of the sectional brake lever and adjacent parts of the mechanism.

While a railway car of the hopper type has 10 been chosen for purposes of illustrating the invention, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the invention may be incorporated in the brake rigging of other types of railway cars. 15

Referred in detail to the drawings, 1 indicates a brake cylinder of conventional design having a piston rod 2 pivotally connected to a brake lever 3 formed of a plurality of sections. In the present embodiment of the invention, a lever of two 20 sections, designated and 5 respectively, is employed, but a lever having a greater number of sections may be advantageously used by duplicating some parts of the mechanism to be hereinafter described, to the end that a greater va- 25 riation in the braking leverage may be obtained.

The section 4, which for purposes of convenience may be termed the auxiliary section, is preferably formed with two laterally spaced coextensive plate-like portions having axially alined apertures at their upper ends to receive a pin 6 for pivotally connecting the section to a bracket 1 rigid with inclined floor sheet 8 of the car. The bracket l may be formed as a casting and, as the floors of hopper cars are customarily provided on their under sides with longitudinally extending reinforcing members 9, the casting may be advantageously secured to one of such members, the connection to the member being effected, in the event the latter is Z shape, by rivets passing through the web l0 thereof. The lower end of section 4 is provided with a transverse web l l which preferably integrally connects the plate portions thereof along their inner edges. The lower end. of section 4 being thus formed with laterally spaced plate portions and a connecting web is of substantially channel shape in cross section.

Section 5 of lever 3, which may conveniently be termed the main section, is of plate-like form and its upper end is adapted to be received within the channel portion of the lower end of section 4. The two sections are pivotally connected by a pin l2 which extends through an aperture formed at the upper end of section 5 5'5 and through alined apertures formed in the plate portions of section 4 somewhat above the lower end of the web ll. Intermediate its ends, and preferably just below the lower end of section 4, section is pivotally. connected to the piston rod 2 by a pin l3 and, at its lower end, it is pivotally connected to a pull rod M of the brake rigging by apin I5.

. From the description thus far, it will be perceived that, when the piston rod is moved outwardly in a brake applying direction, the jointed lever 3 will move as a substantially rigid unit about the pin 6 to transmit a braking force to the pull rod l4. Movement of the lever as a rigid unit results from the resistance to movement of the pull rod and the engagement of web ll of section 4 with the inner edge of section 5 at a point below pin l2 connecting the sections. If desired, the lower edge of web ll may be formed with a rib or head I6 constituting an abutment and the inner edge of section 5 may be provided with a recess affording a seat for the abutment. Lever 3 is of such length and the piston rod is connected thereto at such a point that the leverage obtained is suflicient to produce a force of the magnitude necessary to adequately brake a loaded car.

Since the weight of the loaded car is, however, much greater than the weight of the empty car, the magnitude of the force transmitted by the lever, when acting as a rigid unit, would be such as to lock the wheels of the car when empty. To prevent this undesirable action, mechanism is provided for decreasing the braking leverage so that a force in excess of that necessary to brake an empty car will not be transmitted through the rigging.

This mechanism is designed to restrain movement of section 4 of the lever, whereby section 5 instead of fulcruming about pin 6 will be caused to fulcrum about pin [2 connecting the sections. The eif ective length of the lever being, therefore, reduced by an amount equal to the distance between pins 6 and I2, a braking force of considerably smaller magnitude will be transmitted to the pull rod l4. The mechanism preferably 7 comprises a plate-like member IT which extends between the spaced plate portions of section 4. The outer end of member l"! is provided with oppositely projecting bosses or the like 18 which are adapted to engage the outer side edges of adjacent portions of the plate portions of section 4 and the latter may be formed with recesses IE! to provide seats for the bosses.

The outer end of member I! is movably supported by a pair of links 20 pivotally connected to bracket 1 by the pin 6 which connects the lever 3 thereto. The links are disposed on opposite sides of section 4 of the lever and they are pivotally connected at their lower ends to the member I! by a pin 2| extending through an aperture in the latter coaxial with the bosses l8.

Adjacent its inner end, member I! is provided with oppositely projecting trunnions 22 for connection to a crank formed of two duplicate sections 23, each of which has an arm 24 and a hub 25. The outer ends of the arms are formed with apertures for receiving the trunnions 22 and the hubs are journaled in a bifurcated portion of a bracket 26, the latter being conveniently formed as an integral part of bracket 1. The crank arms 'and the adjacent end of member I! are movable within the bifurcatedportion of the bracket and one of the walls 21 defining the bifurcation is made separate from the rest of the bracket, so

that, after member I! and the crank have been assembled, the latter may be easily associated with the bracket.

Both sections of the crank are preferably formed, concentrically with the hubs 25 thereof,v 5 with inwardly projecting bosses 28 which, when the sections are assembled with the member [1, are adapted to be disposed in abutting relation and serve to limit downward movement of the member by engaging portions thereof on opposite sides of the trunnions 22. When the crank comes to rest in either of the two positions indicated in Figure 3, a straight line connecting the axes of the trunnions and the pin 2| will pass beneath the axis of the hubs 25 of the crank. Member ll, therefore, will have no tendency to move from the position shown in full lines in Figure 3, in which it is operative to restrain movement of section 4 of the lever, or to move from the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, in which it is inoperative to restrain movement of section 4.

Due to the slack in railway car brake rigging, it is preferred that member I1 be so proportioned and designed that even when it is in position to restrain section 4, the latter will not engage the bosses 18 until after all, slack has been taken up. Lever 3, therefore, will move as a substantially rigid unit about pivot pin 6 until all slack is taken up but, when this occurs and mem 30 her I! is in operative position, continued application of the braking force will cause section 5 of the lever to fulcrum or pivot about pin I2 connecting sections 4 and 5 and thereby assume a position such as shown by dotted lines at b in Figure 3. The position the lever will occupy when the greatest permissible amount of slack occurs in the brake"rigging and before any of it has been taken up is shown in dotted lines at a in Figure 3 and the position the lever will occupy after all slack has been taken up is shown in full lines in Figure 3.

The cranks 23 may be conveniently operated to move member I! into and out of operative position by a squared shaft 29 which extends through square openings in they hubs 25 of the cranks. So that the shaft may be rotated from either side of the car, it preferably extends from one side of the car to the other, being supported at opposite ends by brackets 34 carried at the lower ends of plate 33 respectively secured to the car sides. Secured to each end of the shaft is an operating handle 30 having a hub portion 3| and an inwardly extending sleeve portion 32 which is revolubly mounted in the adjacent bracket 34.

To prevent accidental rotation of the shaft, the outer face of each bracket is provided with an arcuate flange 35 having two suitably spaced notches or recesses 37 into one of which a lug 36 formed on the inner side of the operating handle is adapted to project, when member I! is in operative position, and into the other one ofwhich the lug is adapted to project, when member I! is in its inoperative position. A compressionspring 40 encircling the sleeve portion 32 of the handle and bearing at one end against an annular flange 34 of a sleeve 38 keyed to the shaft and at the other end against the adjacent plate 33, presses or urges the bracket 34 outwardly, thereby causing the latter'to move axially of the shaft 29 and thus ensure the desired cooperation between the lug 36 on the handle and the notches 31. v

' From the foregoing, it will be perceived that j, I have devised simple and efficient means for varying the magnitude of the braking force transmitted from a brake cylinder to the brake shoes.

What I claim is:

l. A railway car brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections, said lever being adapted to act as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, and means for restraining movement of one of said sections whereby the other section is movable relatively thereto to function as an independent lever for transmitting a braking force of a less magnitude.

2. In a railway car brake rigging, means for varying the magnitude of the braking force transmitted from a brake cylinder to the brake shoes, said means including a lever having a plurality of pivotally connected sections, each of said sections being of less length than the effective length of the lever operating means for said lever, said sections being normally movable by said operating means as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, and means adapted to restrain movement of one of said sections whereby said sections are caused to move relatively by said operating means for transmitting a braking force of different magnitude.

3. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever having a plurality of pivotally connected sections, one of said sections being fulcrumed on the car and the other being connected to a brake rod, operating means for the lever connected to the last-named section, said lever being normally movable by the operating means as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, and means for restraining movement of the section fulcrumed on the car to permit the other section to be moved relatively thereto by said operating means to transmit a braking force of a different magnitude.

4. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever having a plurality of pivotally connected sections, one of which is fulcrumed on the car, said lever being movable as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, and means mounted on the car movable into position to engage the section fulcrumed on the car for restraining movement thereof whereby the other section of the lever is adapted to act as an independent lever for transmitting force of a different magnitude.

5. A railway brake rigging including a brakelever having a plurality of pivotally connected sections, one of said sections being fulcrumed on the car and the other being connected to a brake rod, operating means for said lever, the latter being normally movable by said means as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, and means for restraining movement of the section of the lever fulcrumed on the car whereby said other section is movable relatively thereto by the operating means to transmit a force of a different magnitude, said restraining means including a movable member engageable with the section fulcrumed on the car, and means disposed adjacent the side of the car for operating said movable member.

6. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever having a plurality of pivotally connected sections, one of which is fulcrumed on the car, means for operating the lever, the latter being normally movable by said means as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, and mechanism for restraining movement of the section of the lever fulcrumed on the car whereby another section of the lever is caused to move relatively thereto by the operating means to transmit a force of a different magnitude, said mechanism including a movable member engageable with the section fulcrumed on the car, a crank device pivotally mounted on the car for operating said member, and a shaft extending transversely of the car for actuating the crank device.

'7. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever having two pivotally connected sections, one of which is fulcrumed on the car, means connected to the other section of the lever for operating the lever, said lever being normally movable by the operating means as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, and mechanism for restraining movement of the section of the lever fulcrumed on the car whereby the other section is movable relatively thereto by the operating means to transmit a force of a different magnitude, said mechanism including an elongated member having an offset portion adjacent one end thereof engageable with the section fulcrumed on the car, and means associated with the other end of said member for moving the member into and out of operative position.

8. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections, one of said sections being fulcrumed on the car and the other being connected to a brake rod, means for operating the lever, the latter being normally movable by the operating means as a substantially rigid unit for transmit ting a braking'force of one magnitude, and mechanism for restraining movement of the section fulcrumed on the car to permit the other section to be moved relatively thereto by said operating means to transmit a braking force of a different magnitude, said mechanism including a movable member engageable with the section fulcrumed on the car, link means movably supporting one.

end of said member, and means movably connected with the opposite end of the member for moving the member into and out of operative position.

9. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections adapted to act as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, operating means for the lever connected to one section thereof and the other section being fulcrumed on the car, and mechanism for restraining movement of the section fulcrumed on the car whereby the other section is movable relatively thereto by said operating means to transmit a braking force of a different magnitude, said mechanism including a member engageable with the section fulcrumed on the car, link means movably supporting one end of the member, a crank device movably mounted on the car connected to the opposite end of said member, and means for actuating the crank to move said member into and out of operative position.

10. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections adapted to act as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, one of said sections being fulcrumed on the car and comprising two laterally spaced plate portions, and means movable between said plate portions adapted to restrain movement of said section whereby the other section is movable relatively thereto to function as an independent lever for transmitting a braking force of a different magnitude.

11. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of pivotally connected sections, one of said sections being provided with means engageable with the other section for limiting relative pivotal movement of the sections in one direction whereby the lever is caused to act as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, and means movable into a position for restraining movement of one of said sections in a brake applying direction whereby the other section is movable relatively thereto to act as an independent lever for transmitting a force of a'difierent magnitude.

12. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections, one of said sections being fulcrumed on the car and having two laterally spaced plate portions, means rigidly connecting said plate portions and engageable with the other section for limiting relative pivotal movement of the sections in one direction whereby the lever is caused to act as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, and means for restraining movement of the section fulcrumed on the car whereby the other section is movable relatively thereto to function as an independent 30':

lever transmitting a braking force of a different magnitude. t 7

13. A railway car brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections one of which is fulcrumed on the car, said lever being adapted to act as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, and mechanism for restraining movement of the section fulcrumed on the car whereby the other section of the lever is movable relatively thereto to transmit a braking force of a different magnitude, said mechanism comprising a member engageable with the section fulcrumed on the car and provided with oppositely projecting trunnions, and a crank device for operating said member, said device involving two separate sections respectively having arms provided with apertures for receiving said trunliions.

14. A railway car brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections one of which is fulcrumed on the car, said lever being adapted to act as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, and mechanism for restraining movement of the section fulcrumed on the car wherebythe other section of the lever is movable relatively thereto to transmit a braking force of a different magnitude, said mechanism including a movable member engageable with the section fulcrumed on the car, a shaft extending transversely of the car for actuating said member, means for supporting one end of the shaft comprising a plate attached to the car adjacent one side thereof, a handle secured to the shaft 1 for rotating the latter, said plate and handle hav- 1p ing rigid portions adapted to cooperate to secure the handle in a desired position of adjustment,

, and spring means normally urging the plate toward the handle to cause cooperation of said portions. 7 1 5.

15. A railway car brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections, one of said sections being fulcrumed on the car and the other being connected with a brake rod, said sections being movable as 20, a substantially rigid unit to take up slack in the brake rigging and being also movable as a substantially rigid unit to transmit a braking force of one magnitude, and means for restraining movement of the section fulcrumed on the car after the slack in the rigging has been taken up to permit movement of the other section relatively thereto for transmitting a braking force of a different magnitude. 7

16. A railway car brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of movably connected sections, and movable means cooperable with one of said sections to prevent movement thereof in a brake applying direction Whereby the other section is movable relatively thereto 3?;

to function as an independent lever for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, said means being movable into a position to permit movement of the sections as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of a differ- 40 ent magnitude.

1'7. A railway brake rigging including a brake lever comprising a plurality of pivotally connected sections normally movable as a substantially rigid unit for transmitting a braking force of one magnitude, a brake rod connected to one of said sections adjacent one end thereof and said section being pivotally connected adjacent its opposite end to the other of said sections, means for restraining movement of the latter section where- Q by the first named section is movable as an independent lever for transmitting a braking force ,of a difierent magnitude.

WILLIAM E. WINE. 

